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Timber Stand Improvment

I have been going to war on thorny locust trees on my farm and treating stumps with tordon. Last weekend was the first time that a liquid oozed up out of the stump when I cut. I assume this means that flow is up now that it is warming and it is time to stop cutting locust trees because the stump killer will not kill stump?
If sap is coming up from the roots through the xylem, something can go down the phloem. Xylem and phloem are the botanical terms for the conductive tissue in plants. Treat away would be my advice.
 
Awesome I figured that would be the answer, what do you guys do with the stumps? Cut flush with ground?

I have always considered myself a diehard hunter, but now being a landowner, I have become almost more interested in improving the land. (I had never even planted a food plot until last year) Just didn’t have the opportunities to do so. Learning a lot. I’m also learning it’s a lot of work-but that’s ok.
Been there! :) I feel the same way...I am not yet to the place where I don't kill anything...but I am much more involved in the planning, planting, etc. and love it. Something that I wished that I had done better...TAKE PICTURES/VIDEO. I have had my place for right at 20 years now...I wished that I had documented everything that I have done better...just for my own pleasure in reviewing it later.

Consider starting a digital scrapbook now, as a new property manager, I think you will enjoy looking back on it as the years go by.
 
Been there! :) I feel the same way...I am not yet to the place where I don't kill anything...but I am much more involved in the planning, planting, etc. and love it. Something that I wished that I had done better...TAKE PICTURES/VIDEO. I have had my place for right at 20 years now...I wished that I had documented everything that I have done better...just for my own pleasure in reviewing it later.

Consider starting a digital scrapbook now, as a new property manager, I think you will enjoy looking back on it as the years go by.
Totally agree Daver. I am the same way, going on 26 years now
 
One other question. I have a very thick patch of cedars, locust, and hedge that I want to drop trees and burn similar to Iowabowhunter video. This area is ditches, ravines, and fairly small ridges. Because of this I am not sure it will be great deer bedding, but I am hoping to make it the best it can be. On the sideslopes, should I drop the trees so that they are parallel with the slopes or so that they are up and down the slopes?
 
One other question. I have a very thick patch of cedars, locust, and hedge that I want to drop trees and burn similar to Iowabowhunter video. This area is ditches, ravines, and fairly small ridges. Because of this I am not sure it will be great deer bedding, but I am hoping to make it the best it can be. On the sideslopes, should I drop the trees so that they are parallel with the slopes or so that they are up and down the slopes?
If your planning to burn it doesn't matter what direction you fell the trees. And with what your dealing with, you just need to worry about getting them on the ground(don't forget to kill the locust, ask me how I know)

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Thanks for the reply. I do plan to burn but assume it will take many years of burning/drying/rotting before the large trees will be gone. That is why i thought it might be important which direction to fell them
 
Was doing TSI. Going to take some walnuts & cottonwoods out on separate sales. This is the top 5 largest walnuts I've encountered in my life.
Here's a TSI vid with some hopefully helpful info.... should be loaded any minute now….


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Cleaning out all that junk makes room for someone else to hug a giant walnut 150 years from now too.

Making room for the next generation of desirable trees to take root before those there now are logged.


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My brother Aaron is fixing up a new farm of his. Loaded with giant or old walnut. A guy named Luke who owns Prudenterra forestry is helping him with this sale. Overwhelming amount of work going on so this was a great option for the timber sale. We doing tsi in a different portion of the farm.
He is a wealth of knowledge!!!!…. Check out vid when have a bit of time, very informative!….
 
Dbltree - Can you explain how upland situations lead to less valuable black walnut trees?


Also, did you keep the black walnuts according to the plan or not? I have some on my property. It's very evident that not much else is growing near the largest black walnut trees anymore due to the toxicity.
This vid above knocks this out of the park!!!
 
Some TSI and bedding clearcuts / thickets...Currently have 4 clearcuts approx 1 acre each for bedding completed. Approximately 20 acres of TSI work done on southern slopes. Trying to get another 10 acres done here this spring. H&S around 3-5 acres as well, but I'll be waiting to see if that does it's trick.

An burned 22 acres of NWSG's this weekend :)
 

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That is some great work, you have been busy! Are you going to leave all the brush in those clearcuts? Looks so tangled that there would not be any space to bed. Reason I ask is because i have some small ridges where i want to do the same thing.
 
That is some great work, you have been busy! Are you going to leave all the brush in those clearcuts? Looks so tangled that there would not be any space to bed. Reason I ask is because i have some small ridges where i want to do the same thing.
Plan on running a fire through there next winter on clearcut #1 picture. Fire in the next couple of weeks on picture 2...and I may run another fire through there next year as well depending on how it does. If it only burns the branches and leaves bigger stuff standing, no big deal.
 
I have a spot that I worked on yesterday where a bunch of oaks and hickory are growing. Too many trees in this patch though. When cutting down oaks do you hinge or totally cut through and put them on the ground.

The main reason I ask is I don’t want to do something that may harm the oaks I leave. Any advice is appreciated!
 
I have a spot that I worked on yesterday where a bunch of oaks and hickory are growing. Too many trees in this patch though. When cutting down oaks do you hinge or totally cut through and put them on the ground.

The main reason I ask is I don’t want to do something that may harm the oaks I leave. Any advice is appreciated!
Multiple methods…. Double girdle for safety if big. Cut them down is always ideal if they can be done safely.
I would only hinge if u do a few pockets u r wanting hinge bedding. If a guy did “all hinge” for tsi- it would be a disaster & deer couldn’t get through it.
When felling trees: 1) do not tip them into your desirable crop tree. 2) you are at the end of cutting pretty soon here. When oaks come out of dormancy- time to stop. We don’t want warm temps with trees out of dormancy & then getting injured. Getting close to end of tsi season when oaks are part of cutting & in the stand being worked on.
 
Multiple methods…. Double girdle for safety if big. Cut them down is always ideal if they can be done safely.
I would only hinge if u do a few pockets u r wanting hinge bedding. If a guy did “all hinge” for tsi- it would be a disaster & deer couldn’t get through it.
When felling trees: 1) do not tip them into your desirable crop tree. 2) you are at the end of cutting pretty soon here. When oaks come out of dormancy- time to stop. We don’t want warm temps with trees out of dormancy & then getting injured. Getting close to end of tsi season when oaks are part of cutting & in the stand being worked on.
I figured it was getting close to the end of time to be able to cut them. I did hinge cut every tree just to try to create something for bedding in the area. The timber is mainly oak and hickory but it is almost all honeysuckle with limited bedding. I thought if I released five to six oaks that maybe they would produce more acorns. They have been really limited in production last few years. These oaks also only have half branch growth on one side of tree b/c of being packed with competition.

Do you think they it is best to finish the cut of the oaks to kill them rather than be hinged? Is there a risk associated with leaving them hinged?
 
I have shared this rhyming ditty before, but I will again. As it relates to the seasonal timing of working the chainsaw in the timber...a wise forester once told me, "Do not prune in May or June...or April". :)

As Skip talks about in the post above this one. You really do not want to be doing much work in your timbers now. It is way better to do that in Jan-Mar. Any bark that is "open" now will invite insect and/or fungus infestation. Oaks, particularly red oaks, are especially vulnerable to wilt, etc, and I don't know of a "better" way to encourage this scourge than to do spring "work" in the timber.

I cut/kill very few oaks, those are the ones I am normally trying to save and release when doing TSI. But, I find that oaks are not the best for hinge cutting. If you need to remove oaks, I would either double girdle them or lay them over.
 
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